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India's Modi Meets Apple, Amazon, Wal-Mart, JPMorgan CEOs Ahead Of Trump
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with top executives from Apple (AAPL), Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google, Amazon (AMZN) and others in the tech, banking and consumer industries  on Sunday, ahead of his meeting with President Trump on Monday.

 

Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayan attended a round table Sunday, along with Mondelez (MDLZ) CEO Irene Rosenfeld, Mastercard (MA) CEO Ajay Bhanga, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon,  David Rubenstein from the Carlyle Group and David Yergin from IHS Markit.

 

The executives reportedly told Modi that India's tough business climate and bureaucracy make it hard to operate there, but Cook and Dimon said afterwards the meeting was  positive and productive.

 

Wal-Mart (WMT) CEO Doug McMilon asked for a private meeting with Modi after the group meeting as the company looks to expand operations in India, according to a CNBC report,

 

The big-box retailer has had trouble navigating India's regulatory system and in 2013 dissolved its joint venture, Bharti Wal-Mart, over corruption charges and other issues.

 

Apple shares were up 0.1% at 146.39 in afternoon trading on the stock market today. Alphabet shares were down 0.9%. Amazon shares dipped 0.6%. JPMorgan was up 0.5%. Wal-Mart rallied 1.1%. Mastercard eased 0.2% and Mondelez gained 0.2%.

 

Defense will likely be a big topic when Trump and Modi meet as India plans to spend $150 billion on its military.

 

The Trump administration has reportedly authorized the sale of 22 General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drones, valued at $22 billion, to India. The deal would still need approval from Congress.

 

Last week, Lockheed Martin (LMT) agreed to send its Texas-based F-16 production to India, if it secures a major fighter deal from New Delhi.

 

Other possible defense deals between the U.S. and India could include Lockheed's C-130J and Boeing's (BA) P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft.

 

Another topic on the table is the H-1B visa program, which Trump has put under review as part of his "hire American buy American" initiative. Without the visa, Indian IT workers would be shut out from working in Silicon Valley.

 

Modi reportedly will highlight the jobs created by Indian-Americans and could use Infosys (INFY), an Indian IT company that pledged to hire 10,000 Americans, as an example a two-way street of investment in hiring between the U.S. and India.

 

http://www.investors.com/news/indias-modi-meets-apple-amazon-wal-mart-jpmorgan-ceos-ahead-of-trump/